-･- From My Everyday Life to Japanese Culture -･- Why don't you see the real Japan, not the typical foreigners' version.

Getting back to chilly Tokyo from sunny hot Florida, I have a bit of a cold.

I stayed at this hotel in Houston, which coasted less than $60 including tax. It was a good deal if there was no problem.

Meantime, I write about why I waited long for a free shuttle at George Bush Intercontinental Airport to get there. It’s a bit long story, so please skip the paragraphs if you aren’t interested in.

After I picked up my luggage, I called the hotel for a shuttle from the airport calling board in baggage claim area. I told a hotel woman that I was in the terminal E, and then I went outside and found that I was actually in the terminal C. When I walked back inside the building for another call, I was intercepted by a kind man who is working for an airport transfer company. He asked why I returned, listened to my story and said, “Just wait outside because all hotel shuttles stop every terminal”. That was reasonable. I waited about 15 minutes, but I had second thought that I had to ring to talk about the terminal because I had a feeling that the shuttle wouldn’t come.

Before I reached the calling board, the men again intercepted me. He took care of me before I could even say something. This time he called the hotel on his cell-phone for me and told a hotel staff that I was waiting in the terminal C.

When over 20 minutes had passed since his call, I was still waiting at the shuttle pick-up point. I saw all of buses from airport hotels except my hotel. I finally spoke with the hotel woman on my cell-phone (I really should have done it sooner) and was told that the vehicle coming for me WAS NOT DISPLAY THE HOTEL NAME because the hotel didn’t manage the shuttle, which she DID NOT tell me on the first telephone call. She just said that she would send an airport employee shuttle. Who knows what “an airport employee shuttle” is. I just assumed that I could recognize the vehicle by the hotel name because free hotel shuttles I caught at various airports displayed it without exception.

After another 30 minutes had passed since the woman casually said that she would send something again on my second call, I made the third telephone call. When I heard that the unreliable person said the same thing repeatedly as if nothing had happened, I decided to take a taxi (I really should have done it sooner).

At any rate, I didn’t see any vehicle displayed “airport employee shuttle” on the body at the pick-up point. There was a slight possibility that I missed it in the first half of waiting, but in the last half there was not.

The lessons of this chain of incidents are that take nothing for granted and that when things aren’t going well, don’t expect someone, make a fast decision and do what you can do.

If you stay at an airport hotel in Houston, select one of listed hotels below that frequently send shuttles.Hilton, Marriott, Courtyard by Marriott, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Best Western and Baymont Inn